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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-09108

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of baby boxes delivered in each year since 2017.

The Programme for Government 2016 included a commitment to provide a Baby Box for every baby born and living in Scotland containing essential items designed to provide practical help for parents.

Registration opened on 15 June 2017, and delivery of boxes nationwide began on 15 August 2017 for all babies born and resident in Scotland.

Please find breakdown of Baby Boxes delivered annually since the scheme began:

2017 – 22,001 boxes

2018 – 48,524 boxes

2019 – 47,202 boxes

2020 – 42,636 boxes

2021 – 42,452 boxes

2022 – 17,973 boxes (please note that data is up to the 10th of June)

Question reference: S6W-09106

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the information contained in the hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 will have been digitally recorded.

Question reference: S6W-09101

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to ensure that hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 are recorded accurately and that errors in recording can be corrected.

A rigorous approach is taken to ensure accurate census paper questionnaire data.

Paper questionnaires are scanned and the answers are captured digitally using character recognition software. During scanning, the system looks to automatically allocate a numeric code to each answer, which allows the data to be easily analysed. Trained Quality Control operators perform daily checks on a sample of cases to ensure the quality of data captured from scanned questionnaires meets expectations.

It is not always possible to automatically allocate valid codes during scanning as some answers provided are not always on lists the system matches to. To ensure complete information is recorded, National Records of Scotland (NRS) set up a manual coding service where trained coding operatives visually inspect census questionnaires and make a decision on the most accurate code to assign.

Further manual inspections of the paper forms are made by NRS staff to check allocated categories and codes.

Question reference: S6W-09103

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how treatment of hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 differs from the treatment of hardcopy paper responses to the (a) 2011 census and (b) 2021 census in England and Wales.

Scanning of paper questionnaires for Scotland’s Census 2022 is in line with the 2011 census and the 2021 census in England Wales.

Full information on the coding and data processing methods employed on Scotland’s Census 2022 is published on the NRS website. Comparisons to 2011 and the 2021 census in England and Wales are made where appropriate.

Statistical methodology | Scotland's Census (scotlandscensus.gov.uk)

Question reference: S6W-09104

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how the information contained in hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 will be recorded.

Question reference: S6W-09123

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cutaneous Melanoma QPI Review Group will publish the final cutaneous melanoma quality performance indicators document.

Question reference: S6W-09102

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether all hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 will be digitally recorded in their entirety.

Question reference: S6W-09105

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what will happen to hardcopy paper responses to Scotland's Census 2022 after the information has been extracted.

Question reference: S6W-09177

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how organisations can apply to the Textile Innovation Fund, and what the criteria are for receiving funding.

Question reference: S6W-09126

Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding each (a) local authority and (b) National Park will receive from its Edinburgh Process Fund.

Under the Edinburgh Process strand of the Nature Restoration Fund, Local Authorities have been allocated a share of £5 Million for 2022-23, using a formula based on the area of urban greenspace and local nature reserves, as set out in the following table:

Local Authority	Rounded Allocation (£m)
Aberdeen City	0.135
Aberdeenshire	0.213
Angus	0.150
Argyll & Bute	0.238
Clackmannanshire	0.091
Dumfries & Galloway	0.257
Dundee City	0.086
East Ayrshire	0.102
East Dunbartonshire	0.132
East Lothian	0.110
East Renfrewshire	0.061
Edinburgh, City of	0.161
Eilean Siar	0.124
Falkirk	0.179
Fife	0.378
Glasgow City	0.132
Highland	0.328
Inverclyde	0.160
Midlothian	0.103
Moray	0.124
North Ayrshire	0.190
North Lanarkshire	0.274
Orkney	0.054
Perth & Kinross	0.176
Renfrewshire	0.102
Scottish Borders	0.161
Shetland	0.079
South Ayrshire	0.096
South Lanarkshire	0.188
Stirling	0.114
West Dunbartonshire	0.126
West Lothian	0.176
TOTAL	5.000

The two National Park authorities have each been allocated £0.25 Million.

The remaining £1 million has been made available on a competitive basis for Local Authorities who are planning to undertake a single large project which cannot be funded through their allocation. Applications for this competitive element can be made to NatureScot and are open until the end of June 2022.